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COVID-19

Danish authorities warn of new measures after Covid-19 cases increase

Local measures to contain increasing numbers of new coronavirus cases could be introduced at the beginning of next week.

Published: 4 September 2020 17:40 CEST
Danish authorities warn of new measures after Covid-19 cases increase
Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

A total of 173 new cases of coronavirus were registered in the latest daily update on Friday, following Thursday’s total of 179.

The numbers from the State Serum Institute appear a reversal of the improvement in Denmark's infections figures in late August.

The number of hospitalised people with Covid-19 in Denmark now stands at 18. Three people are in intensive care and all three are receiving ventilator treatment. One new death with coronavirus was registered on Friday, taking Denmark’s total lives lost to Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic to 627.

Previous days this week saw 111 (Wednesday), 99 (Tuesday) and 94 (Monday) cases registered. The figure was under 100 for seven consecutive days during last week.

The figure of 179 from Thursday is the highest daily tally since April 22nd.

New containment measures could be put in place if infection numbers in several towns do not improve by Monday, health authorities said at a press briefing on Friday.

“If infections keep increasing, it is not unrealistic for us to put stricter resources to use as soon as Monday,” Anne Lykke Petri, head of the Danish Patient Safety Authority, said according to DR’s report.

That was confirmed by health minister Magnus Heunicke.

“It is clear that if the infections continue to increase, we will have to use some of the tools that we know from (experience in) Aarhus have a significant effect in bringing down infections,” Heunicke said in reference to measures in Denmark’s second city, which saw a spike in cases in the first half of August.

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Those measures included partial closures of educational institutions and a requirement to wear face masks on public transport. The latter measure is now a national requirement at all times.

“Local shutdowns are one of the options at the top of our toolbox. We’ll look at the numbers again this weekend and if necessary, we will reach for some of these,” Heunicke said.

88 municipalities have registered new infections in the past week with 14 municipalities currently on health authorities' special observation list due to them having more than 20 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 7 days, DR reports.

Copenhagen and Odense are both in the spotlight currently. The latter city, Denmark’s third-largest, has seen an outbreak at teacher training college UCL, where over a thousand students have now been sent home and switched to online classes.

Heunicke took the opportunity to stress good hygiene practice to reduce Covid-19 spread, including maintaining social distance, staying home if you feel ill and regularly washing hands or using disinfectant. There was also a call to refrain from private parties.

“We must remember to keep our distance. This is one of the best weapons (against the virus), but the second-best weapon is to reduce the total number of people you meet with,” said Dan Brun Petersen, acting head of department with the Danish Health Authority.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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